Gray Whale

The gray whale ( Eschrichtius robustus ) is a Baleine of intermediate size, only Espèce of the kind Eschrichtius and family Eschrichtiidae .

Description

Size: male 11,10-14,60 m,

female 11,70-14,90 m,
with birth 4,60 Mr.

food Mode: various amphipodes benthic, polychètes, isopodes, tubicolous.

Habitat: coastal water and deep oceanic water.

Surface of distribution: coastal region of the northern Pacific

Population

The population is currently limited to the Pacific. The whales move annually between a place where they nourish benthic shellfish, located between the Mer of Barents and the Mer of Okhotsk - between the Alaska and the Eastern Siberia - and of the places of reproduction, located around the gulf of California and the China Sea (sea of Korea).

A population now extinct existed in the Atlantique. It persisted until XIX^e century on the American coasts and, perhaps, until XVII^e in European water. Its first description on the east coast of the United States is due to Paul Dudley, former governor of New England (1725): “ The Scrag Whale is near a-kin to the End-back, inftead goals off has Fin upon his Back, the Ridge off the Afterpart off his Back is scragged with half has Dozen Knobs gold Nuckles; He is nearest the right Whale in Figure and for Quantity off Oil; his Bone is white goal won' T Split ”. As it is seen, this “rough whale” is not very clearly described. She was then ignored by the large zoologists (Carl von Linné (1707-1778), Georges Cuvier (1769-1832), etc) of which some transfer in this description only a Right whale sick. Its scientific existence was initially attested besides starting from remainders of the age of iron found on a beach of the island of Gräso, in the the Baltic (Lilljeborg, 1868). Since, much of remainders one found, mainly with the Netherlands - during work of empoldering between 1879 and 1935 the, most recent being dated from V^e century -, on a beach in Great Britain in 1861 ( Babbicombe Bay : these remainders, preserved at the Natural History Museum of London, were vaisemblablement those of the very last individuals having rolled since sea-beds during two centuries: they were gone back - Bryant 1995 - as being old to 340 years), like in a career of Cornwall. Lastly, a series of remainders were discovered in 1997 in the ancient city of Lattara (Eastern Languedoc, France) close to Montpellier. This city was the main port of the zone and it is possible that the lagoons of the Mediterranean coasts (at least Western in Spain and France but perhaps also with the the Maghreb and in Italy) lodged gray whales at the time of their winter stays like place of reproduction (Macé, 2003).

A genetic study is in hand on these remainders in order to characterize this population. A project of reintroduction directed by Dr. Owen Nevin of the University off Central Lancashire starting from the be-peaceful population is being studied since July 2005 (BBC News).

Appendices

External references

External bonds

Fishings and Océans Canada: page on the gray whale;
lesbaleines.net: site of information on the whales and the marine mammals;
lilljeborg1868.pdf: article of Lilljebörg (1868) bringing back the discovery of this species;
lattara2003alta.pdf: article on the discovery of the gray whale in the Mediterranean (Macé, 2003).
Site of information on the Cetacea

Zh-min-nan: Phú-sek Hái-ang

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